Charity calls for end to hospital car parking fees

The vast majority of Britons would like to see an end to car parking charges at hospitals, a new survey has revealed.

According to Macmillan Cancer Support, eight in ten people believe it is wrong that cancer patients are expected to pay to park.

Charges have been abolished in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland over the past year, however no such move has been made in England.

Labour has previously stated it will remove parking charges for in-patients, but only if it wins the next election.

Ciaran Devane, chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, expressed his dismay at the government.

"It is morally wrong that cancer patients in England are still being forced to fork out parking charges just so they can get their treatment," he said.

"It's time this tax on illness ended."

According to Cancer Research UK, there were more than 155,000 UK deaths from cancer in 2007.

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